


The Promise I Keep

by Marley1



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Angst, Big Brother Erwin, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Manga Spoilers, Past Character Death, Transvestite
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 18:55:07
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12563984
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marley1/pseuds/Marley1
Summary: Only known to those closest to Erwin Smith, he has a younger sibling named Roma. Before his death he had two final request for Roma. Having completed one of them, Roma returns to the survey corps to complete Erwin's dying wish. To act as commander alongside Hange and stop the titans. But of course they're always trouble and secrets.....





	1. Chapter 1

I sat on top of wall Sina staring at the starry night. My eyes start to water as I remember the times Erwin and I were up here together. This was our secret, we would come here once every few months, late at night, to meet, catch up and mostly let each other know that we were still alive. Sometimes we didn't meet up, if we were busy, we would stop by and leave a note in a loose brick, just to let each other know that we were safe. That's why I'm here now. To collect the last message that will ever be put in this brick. All that was in it was a piece of paper with six words. But it was six words I wish I could hear from him personally, 'I love you Roma, stay safe'. "I hate you for knowing." I whisper to myself. A bitter tone in my voice. My brother knew he was going to die. Hange had managed to inform me what had happened after Erwin lost his arm. I visited him a few days after he was releases from the hospital. He was sitting at a desk reading some documents when I came into the room. "So, you manage to get your arm eaten off by a titan. And here you sit still..... relatively whole." Even though he's faced away from me, I can tell he's smiling. I continue "You bastard you just can't seem to die, can you?" I ask, smiling as I wrap my arms around his neck, cautious of the bandaged shoulder. He take his hand and lays it arm, smiling he responds "I can't believe you Roma! Your big brother is severely injured and you're asking me why I'm not dead! I'm hurt!" "Yeah, big brother who's at a desk reading documents instead of resting in bed. Yea, you sure do look hurt Erwin." I move the papers and sit on the desk, facing him. I change my tone to a more serious one. All jokes aside I'm worried about him. "But seriously, Erwin, how are you doing?" He looks down at his lap, a depressed mood on his face. "My arm isn't even a fraction of what I owe. I am a monster and I deserve to be punished as one." I get upset at him by that statement. I hate when he does this. "DON'T TALK LIKE THAT!" He looks up at me surprised by my outburst. "You're not a monster Erwin! You've met monsters! You've fought them! You should know you're not one of them!" "But I am Roma." He responds sternly. "I've willing lead good men into battle as ponds! Well knowing that they were going to be killed!" "That's the price of being a solider Erwin! We've all done things we didn't want to! But we did them anyway, because we had to! So what you let a few people die, one of your soilder turns into a titan, A TITAN ERWIN, and is he a monster?" "Thats different!" "HOW? You let me roam free, beyond the walls, by myself does that make you a monster?" "YES YOU COULD DIE OR END UP LIKE ME WITH ONLY ONE ARM!" He shouted as he stood up from his seat. "BUT IM NOT!" "AND WHAT ABOUT THOSE GLOVE YOU'VE BEEN WEARING THE PAST SERVERAL MONTHS AND NEVER TAKE OFF? HUH? DON'T THINK I HAVEN'T NOTICED! WHAT... "ERWIN!" My voice shakes as I cut off his rant, tears start to gather in my eyes. Erwin sighs and sits back down in his chair realizing he had gone too far. I had told him him a while back I was experimenting with some titans and got hurt but i still withheld a lot of the details. He takes his hand and grabs mine tightly. "Roma" he says as I look back at him, wiping the tears with my free hand. "I need to ask a favor of you. Well two actually." He continues. "Anything" I whisper. "Roma, my time is running out. I can feel it. But before I go I need to two things from you." I nod. "When I'm gone I want for you to come back to survey corps and join Hange as joint commanders. I'll leave everything in writing so Hange knows what to do ahead of time. But until that day comes I......... I need to find the lights." I stare at him in shock. He hasn't mentions the lights since we were kids. The lights were these lights of all different colors that supposedly danced in the night sky beyond the walls. We had read about it in a book that talked about a lot of things that were supposedly beyond the walls. Water that gushed up from the ground, fire the flowed like a river, mountains that always had snow on them even in the summer. And when Erwin allowed me to be what he called a 'beyond the wall soilder', my only mission was to find out if these things were actually true and so far the ones i have looked for did exist. But I never thought I would look for the dancing lights. I didn't think they were true but, Erwin was always fascinated by them. So if Erwin's final wish was the dancing lights, I would find those lights even of it kills me. "Okay Erwin. I promise. I'll find the lights and I'll take a picture and a painting to show you that they are real and after I have, I'll come back and lead the corps." I said, tears streaming down my face as I start to realize this will most likely the last time I'll ever see him. "Thank you Roma." he hugs me as I stand up off his desk. I grab my bags as I start to head out. I don't want to leave him but I have a promise to fulfill. Just as I reach the door he calls out "Goodbye Roma, I love you." I look back at him and notice the unshed tears in his eyes. As much as I want to run back to him and sob and never let go, I stay strong for him. "I love you too big brother......Goodbye." A single tear runs down my cheek as the memory fades. I wipe it away as I stand up. I pick up my bags and make sure my ODM gear is ready to go. Erwin let me keep my gear when let he me go beyond the walls and would always make sure to leave fresh blades and air tanks when he visited our brick. With everything set I take the map out of my coat pocket with the location of where I am to meet Hange and Levi. Once figuring out a route a place the paper back in my pocket. "Well I better get going, Levi will have my head if I'm late." I say to myself as I get one last look at the view. "After all, I have a promise to keep."


	2. The Phantom Soldier

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Roma arrives to meet with Hange and Levi and some unexpected guest.

I arrived at the house around dawn. It was a small house that Levi had the remaining 104 cadets fix up and they had all been living there since after finding out the identities of the armored and colossal titan. I walked into the house only to find that no one was there. Greatly concerned, I quietly sat my bags down and brought out my gun. I slowly tread through each room, it wasn't until I reached the kitchen did I find someone, someone I was hoping to avoid for a while. Sitting at the table, taking a sip of tea, was none other then Nile Dok. My anger surged through me as I pointed my gun at him and cocked it. He held up his hands and said  
"Roma I know you're upset."  
"Damn right I'm upset!"  
"But you need to..."  
" No I don't need to do anything, he trust you, he saw you as a friend, he gave up the love of his life, YOUR WIFE TO SAVE THIS FUCKING HELL HOLE AND YOU HAD HIM TORTURED!" He sighed but said nothing else, continuing I asked, "Where's Hange and Levi? Where's the 104?" He stood up said, "Follow me." "Why? where are you taking me?" "To the king." I back away slowly as I noticed him moving closer. "Bullshit! I know Historia is queen." With that statement, his eyes widen, "How?" "I helped Erwin with some background information." "You're a traitor!?" "No. I only fulfilled a command asked by my commander." "Bullshit, when have you ever done anything Erwin asked? You just wanted to get away from him." And with that he had stunned me enough to put me in handcuffs. We walked out the back door where he had his horse tied up to a nearby tree. As we neared wall Rose, I put my hood up and kept my head down. My identity was kept secret from the public and mostly everyone. Because of my status in the corps, only a selected few knew of my existence. As soon as we entered Trost, I heard her voice, "Hange." I whispered to myself. I saw her by a small restaurant, looking down at someone I could only assume was Levi. So I did the only logical thing and jumped off the moving horse. I ran through the crowd keeping my head low so Nile couldn't find me as I heard him shout for me to stop. Before I knew it. I had ran into Levi and knocked him over. "Ow!" We groaned. "What the hell is your probl.....Roma!?" "Hey Levi." I said awkwardly. Hange helped us and Levi stumbled a bit. Hange kept him steady and asked if he was okay. "Yeah, Roma just landed on my leg is all." He said sarcastically. "Shit! Levi I'm so sorry I completely for..." "What's with the handcuffs?" He asked. "Oh" I said as picked up a nail from the floor and unlocked the cuffs." I handed them to Hange and said to Levi, "I ran into a little trouble at your place." I said glaring at Nile who was still searching for me. "What the hell was he doing at my house." "The hell if I know, but he knew I would be there, he was waiting for me." "We should head out, we need to meet with Pixis, and if Nile knows you're here, the rest of the guard and Zackly most likely know as well." "Four eyes is right, we should leave. Ackerman! Tell the others we're heaing out." Levi yelled to a young, Asian woman. Standing next to her was a tan, brown haired, brightly green eyed young man. My eyes widen as I dashed to him. "You're Eren!" I stated. "Yes. Who are you? He said a bit nervous. "Oh I'm Roma but that's not important. So you're the titan shifter!? Wow that's so cool! I can't believe it! I..." "Wait! Roma? Your name is Roma?" "Yes." His eyes shined with disbelief and wonder. "No way. YOU'RE THE PHANTOM SOLDIER!?" I stood in horror as the others stared in shock. "How do you know?" I whispered in fear. "Yeah brat, how do you know?" Levi demanded. " I helped Hange clean some of Erwin's things when Levi couldn't do it and I came across a case file he had about it. There was a name on one of the files. It said Roma. I assumed that the story was real and that 'Roma' was the Phantom." Not long after I left, stories started to spread around the corps about this 'Phantom Soldier'. A soldier who lives beyond the walls, didnt where a uniform and didnt follow orders of the commander nor the royal family. But they still helped protect the walls from titans. At first the rumors were funny but when it spread to the military police and the towns people did problems start. People started to see the Phantom Soldier as a hero and others some them as a threat. A terror who plotted to take out the royal family and works in favor of the titans. To keep me safe, Erwin shut down all rumors and ensured that my identity was kept secret. To these walls, I didn't exist.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 is up let me know what y'all think.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first fanfic. Leave me a comment let me know what you think. More chapters to come.


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